I was reading the selling FA thread, and was thinking that a number of people think there might be a FF this year. That's nothing new of coarse, but it seems like Pentax not announcing a FF this year will pretty much kill any thought of Pentax ever coming out with a FF for me, and I am wondering if that is universal?

It's been such a slow year for new Pentax products, that if all Pentax has to show at the next trade show is a new entry level DSLR, I'm sure I won't be the only one pretty disappointed with the brand. About the only thing I can think of that would or might counter that for some people, would be the announcement of immediate availability of the long zoom or a surprise announcement of a 400mm f5.6 telephoto.

I have to admit that Pentax just having an entry level camera to announce would be pretty jarring to me and it would definitely shake my commitment to the brand in a big way, even with a 400mm announcement. I don't do telephoto all that much, and definitely not enough to want to spend a lot of money on it, even if it was WR. I'd rather risk an older body with a non-sealed lens as the cost of that risk is going to be a lot less than a new Pentax WR long telephoto. I also have to admit my faith in Pentax coming out with lens that outperforms the rest of the field has taken a beating as well over the last few years.

I also expect Sigma to come out with an Art version of their 24mm and if it is priced in the same ballpark as their other Art lenses, then there is going to be a path for me to take into FF in another mount. That might be next year even, but I expect it to come sooner or later.

I can't say I'm really hopeful about the Pentax brand at this point. I have most of the kit I want, but the K-3 isn't really the type of APS-C camera I want from Pentax. My worry is that without a FF announcement, that the K-3 style is the direction Pentax will take going forward. The body would be fine with a FF sensor in it, but for APS-C, I really want something more like the K-5 series cameras. I definitely don't want something heavier than the equivalent Nikon body.

Thank youRussell

And the Japanese Pentax/Ricoh official that was there jokingly shushed me saying that the K3 is a better camera.

So I honestly think that there won't be a FF from Pentax this year or the next. The K3 is an excellent camera, hopefully they'll introduce very quick focusing lenses for it.